Another year has slipped away, and here I sit, reflecting back on what entertained me in 2012. I always start my wrap up by going back to the beginning of the year, to see how my interests have changed. I began the year dividing my time between British stuff and vintage television shows…and that’s exactly where I find myself now. Only the faces have changed!

Best Books: Might as well get the embarrassment out of the way first. Normally I read a couple of books a week, but I went 8 months out of the last 12 without finishing a single book! Oh, the shame. I could blame my eyes, since I need new glasses, but the real truth is that I spend too much time online. Making videos has also sucked up my reading time, but that’s for another category. Of the small selection of books read this year, I really enjoyed Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth, and Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim. (More about Arngrim’s book in an upcoming post.) The biggest disappointment was Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James.

Best Television: My television is usually always tuned to either Me-TV or CBS, except on Sunday night, when I watch Masterpiece on PBS. I still enjoy The Big Bang Theory, but I do think it’s losing something from having too many separate storylines, with the characters spending less time gathered in the same living room. More characters means less screen time for favorites Sheldon and Raj. I discovered Leverage in reruns just as the show got cancelled, but at least I have five seasons to explore further. Since September, I’ve been enjoying reruns of Emergency! on Me-TV. Another season of Sherlock brought more delight, as well as more Inspector Lewis. Thanks to a friend, I’m now back to enjoying EastEnders, the British serial drama, and already my life wouldn’t be complete without weekly visits to Albert Square. This year’s favorite program was Call the Midwife, featuring new favorite Miranda Hart as the wonderful Chummy. I can’t wait for more of this series!

Best Twitter: I’m very picky about twitter. Too much shameless self-promotion? Unfollow. Too many retweets? Unfollow. Too many conversations that should be private? Unfollow. No sense of humor? I shouldn’t have been following in the first place! I enjoy humor, whimsy, and folks who don’t take themselves too seriously. The most consistently entertaining tweets this year have come from Josh Groban. I’ve also enjoyed following Russell Tovey. I can count on a friend to share the best of Demetri Martin and The Onion, so I guess they count, too!

Best Theatre: Oops. Didn’t see any. Never mind.

Best Movies: I had good luck with the movies I saw in the cinema this year. Mind you, I still haven’t seen three of the four films I was most looking forward to in 2012, so they will have to wait until 2013! The Avengers was terrific, and I also enjoyed Life of Pi. The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t a favorite, but Tom Conti and Joseph Gordon-Levitt made it worthwhile for me. I saw my first 3D movie, John Carter, but I’m not a fan of the technology. It was a great year for silents: Napoleon was stunning, and I also saw three films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, with The Canadian (1926) making the deepest impression. Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan had an entertaining beginning and middle, but I was disappointed by the third act. The best new film I saw in 2012 was Argo.

Best DVDs: I spent six months of this year with Wagon Train at the top of my Netflix queue. They never sent me any on the discs, and my queue always said “short wait.” I could have bought the DVDs for the money I spent on my Netflix plan, especially since I wasn’t watching the discs they sent me instead. I cancelled my account. This means I can’t go look at my history for this year to review, but this an easy category. The best DVDs of my year have been the classic television western Laramie, particularly seasons one and two. When I’m not watching the episodes again and again, I’m making tribute videos and posting them on YouTube. I now have more YouTube followers than blog followers! Which leads me to a new category…

Best Time-Sucker-Upper: Call it a hobby, a passion, an obsession, a skill or an art. But this year I started making videos, and now I can’t stop. I’d been making slideshows using still images at animoto.com, and this summer I tried using their template program for short video clips. It was okay, but I didn’t like their wide border which wasted space, so it forced me to try Windows Movie Maker. I had no idea it would be so much fun! My Laramie tribute videos aren’t very interesting to people who aren’t fans of the series, but I’m proud of my channel and grateful for all my followers.

Best Music: Mostly I’ve listened to older stuff this year. When Davy Jones died, I started listening to lots of the Monkees. I love Gaelic Storm’s album How Are We Getting Home? (2004), discovered in a stack of my own CDs that I never got around to hearing. I’m definitely going to listen to more of this group in 2013. I’ve also been enjoying lots of Kate Rusby. One of my favorite new old songs is “Can’t Turn My Heart Away” by Art Garfunkel. I’m still enjoying The Book of Mormon Broadway soundtrack, but I learned the hard way not to listen to it in public. Even with earphones, you look like a nutter snickering at the lyrics.

Best Music Video: My choices are never conventional, but that’s what you get for taking musical advice from me! Here’s my favorite:

Never mind that it was uploaded in 2008. It’s still the most adorable video I’ve seen on YouTube this year! If you don’t know it, this is India’s national anthem. [the original video was deleted, so this is an updated link.]

Best New-To-Me Software: Handbrake for ripping DVDs, and Google Talk for saving me a fortune on phone bills. I chat now with friends around the world, without the complications of installing Skype, and no webcam to show everyone how hideous I look through a fisheye lens.

Entertainer of the Year: Honorable Mention this year goes to Miranda Hart. I discovered her in Call the Midwife, and now I’m enjoying her comedy on YouTube and her BBC series Miranda. The winner is an easy choice. In April, I purchased season one of Laramie on DVD, and by the end of May, I was a member of Robert Fuller’s official fan group. While my favorite role is Jess Harper in Laramie, I’ve been enjoying Wagon Train, Emergency!, and all of Fuller’s other television shows and movies. I’ve spent hours chatting with other fans, making tribute videos and collages, and searching ebay for vintage photos. For so much entertainment in so many different ways, Robert Fuller is my Entertainer of the Year. Thank you, Mr. Fuller!

Because Laramie is now being broadcast again, NBC/Universal is enforcing their copyright claims. I had 3 of my Laramie tribute videos blocked today. I had to take down the videos or risk losing the channel.

Such a shame. I thought so long as they weren’t full episodes, they were okay to post. They should realize your talent is providing a commercial for the show! Seeing them made me add the series to my Christmas list! Thanks for sharing while you could.

I too hoped that the short clips would be okay, with the music more of a risk than the footage. I still want to get my hands on the episodes they’re now broadcasting, since the quality is so much better than the DVD versions. By keeping my channel, I can keep in touch with subscribers and fellow fans, and hopefully find another way of sharing the Laramie love.

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My Corner of the Internet

Inspired by the song about unloved creatures who make their own good time and have a ball together.
A blog about the stuff that entertains me, including books, movies, television and theatre, with lots of photography and the occasional rant. I also invite guest bloggers for a fresh perspective.